Grizzly mauls, kills a bear 'expert'

Alaska attack also takes life of female companion in park

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published
10:00 pm PDT, Tuesday, October 7, 2003

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A self-styled bear expert who once called Alaska's brown bears harmless party animals was one of two people fatally mauled in a bear attack in Katmai National Park and Preserve -- the first known bear killings in the 4.7 million-acre park.

The bodies of Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found near Kaflia Bay on Monday when a pilot with Andrew Airways arrived to pick them up and take them to Kodiak, Alaska state troopers said. The park is on the Alaska Peninsula.

Treadwell, co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska," spent more than a dozen summers living alone with Katmai bears, and videotaping them. Information on Huguenard was not immediately available.

The Andrew Airways pilot contacted troopers in Kodiak and the National Park Service in King Salmon after he saw a brown bear, possibly on top of a body, in the camp Monday afternoon.

Park rangers encountered a large, aggressive male brown bear when they arrived at the campsite. Katmai park ranger Joel Ellis said two officers stood by with shotguns as he fired 11 times with a semiautomatic handgun before the animal fell 12 feet away.

Investigators then found human remains buried by a bear near the campsite, which was in a brushy area with poor visibility.

No weapons were found at the scene, Park Service spokeswoman Jane Tranel said. Firearms are prohibited in that part of the park.

The remains and the entire campsite were packed out Monday and transported to Kodiak on the Andrew Airways flight.

Either Treadwell or Huguenard had made a satellite phone call to a friend around 11 a.m. Sunday, and there apparently was no problem at the time, Ellis said.

"But the bottom line is, we really may never know exactly what happened. There were no witnesses," he said.

As the plane was being loaded, another aggressive bear approached and was killed by park rangers and troopers. The bear was younger, possibly a 3-year-old, according to Bruce Bartley, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in King Salmon.

The bodies were flown to the state Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy.

Dean Andrew, owner of Andrew Airways, said the pilot was too upset to comment. The company had been flying Treadwell out to Katmai for 13 years and Huguenard for the past couple of years. Andrew said Treadwell was an experienced outdoorsman.

"We were all good friends with him," he said. "We haven't had time to deal with it."

Treadwell was known for his brazen confidence around bears. He often got so close he could touch them. He gave them names. Once he was filmed crawling along the ground singing as he approached a sow and two cubs.

Over the years, Park Service officials, biologists and others expressed concern about his safety and the message he was sending.

That same year, Treadwell was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman," describing Alaska brown bears as mostly harmless "party animals." He said he felt safer living among the bears than running through New York's Central Park.

In his book, Treadwell said he decided to devote himself to saving grizzlies after a drug overdose, followed by several close calls with brown bears in early trips to Alaska.

He said those experiences inspired him to give up drugs, study bears and establish a non-profit bear-appreciation group, called Grizzly People.